The Euthanasia Coaster will kill you with euphoria: Spiel Macht Frei

THE Euthanasia Rollercoaster is not an NHS trolley with a wonky wheel. It’s a real rollercoaster. Well, it;s really in the mind of a man. The Euthanasia Coaster has been designed by Lithuanian engineer Julijonas Urbonas to kill people humanely, with “elegance and euphoria“.

“Euthanasia Coaster” is a hypothetical euthanasia machine in the form of a roller coaster engineered to humanely – with elegance and euphoria – take the life of a human being. Riding the coaster’s track, the rider is subjected to a series of intensive motion elements that induce various unique experiences: from euphoria to thrill, and from tunnel vision to loss of consciousness, and, eventually, death. Thanks to the marriage of the advanced cross-disciplinary research in aeronautics/space medicine, mechanical engineering, material technologies and, of course, gravity, the fatal journey is made pleasing, elegant and meaningful. Celebrating the limits of the human body, this ‘kinetic sculpture’ is in fact the ultimate roller coaster: John Allen,former president of the famed Philadelphia Toboggan Company, once said that “the ultimate roller coaster is built when you send out twenty-four people. and they all come back dead. This could be done, you know.”

Says the designer:

“Thanks to the marriage of the advanced cross-disciplinary research in space medicine, mechanical engineering, material technologies and, of course, gravity, the fatal journey is made pleasing, elegant and meaningful.”

A Dr Peter Saunders, from anti-euthanasia organisation Care Not Killing, is unhappy:

“Whilst appreciating the artist’s sense of humour and light-heartedness, we also need to remember that the life a human being cannot ever be taken ‘humanely with elegance and euphoria’ and with this method the last sensation would more probably be one of overwhelming vertigo and fright. Let’s hope that this imaginative method never becomes legal.”

But if it does become real, tell grandma we’re off to the funfair. And bring the dog. Spiel Macht Frei, as it says on the gates at DisneyLand…